1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fuel supply system for a mobile machine having a fueled component, and more particularly, relates to a fuel supply system having multiple tanks that are coupled to one another when the machine is operating and which are otherwise decoupled from one another.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Many machines must be transported to and operated at a potentially remote location. These machines include heaters and dryers for thawing frozen ground or keeping recently poured concrete warm while it cures, electrical generators, light towers for lighting construction sites and other areas lacking electrical power. A mobile fuel supply is needed to operate these machines in the field. Further, many of these machines also must be operated for an extended period of time. The ideal fuel supply must therefore be adequate to run the machine non-stop for many hours or even for days. Several hundred gallons (over a thousand liters) of fuel are therefore desired.
The required fuel typically is stored on a tank mounted on the same trailer or other towed or self propelled mobile carrier as the machine. However, storing such large volumes of fuel in a single tank risks very large fuel spills of a tank leaks or is ruptured. Storing fuel in two or more tanks reduces the risk but usually requires redundancy in supply lines, fittings, valves, etc, increasing the cost of the machine and also increasing the risk of spills due to failure of these redundant fuel transfer devices.
Another method of mitigating the risk of fuel spills is to simply reduce to the tank volume to a smaller size. However, this approach reduces the run time of the powered equipment, and increases operating costs by requiring that the tank be refilled on site more frequently. The manpower and downtime associated with such arrangements further increases costs, and refilling on site increases, rather than decreases, the chance of a spill occurring.
What is needed is an inexpensive and reliable system for transporting a desired quantity of fuel to a location while reducing the maximum volume of fuel that can be spilled in the event of a tank failure.